The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1887-01-06
FARMING IN JAPAN.
A Great Diversity OF Crops and very Care
full Cultivation.

lul CQlClVAClOps
Japan has an area of 10000 square
miles, or about 1OO,OOO,OOO acres. This
approximate approaches the area OF the
State of California. Of this area Japan
has only 100000 acres in cultivation
by the spade, mattock or plow. From
this cultivated area all the food and tex
tile plants are grown to feed and clothe
3S,OO0,OOO people. The land outside Of
this cultivation does not contribute by
grazing to their support as with us, as the
Japanese wear no woolen clothing and
eat neither beef, pork, mutton, milk,
butter nor cheese. The untitled area
yields them only fuel. Their 100000
acres do even more than to clothe an .
feed their SS,OOO,00O people. They yield
40, 100000 pounds of tea, $4,000 bales of
silk, and large quantities of rice, tobacco
and hemp for expectation.
TILLERs OF THE SOIL.
In population of 3S,OOO,O)0 there are
2O,OOO,OOO who belong to the agricultural
class. There are 100000 landholders.
The land holders average two and two.
thirds acres. There are few men who
own and till ten acres, and there are
many who have one acre and less. 1t is
not TO be understood that all The labor of
2O,0OO,O0O Of people is expended upon
100000 of acres Of land. Every far.
mer's family has its wheel, real, warping
bars and loom, as the early settlers of
this continent had, and their cotton,
linen and silk cloth is made for family
use, and even for sale.
The climate is 80 mild that on the
lower levels the soil never freezes, and
on much of the land both summer and
winter crops are raised the same year.
In order to maintain the fertility of the
soil, with this double demand upon it,
repeated fertilization is praclised. The
number of domestic animals III compare.
lively small. There is no other country
in the world with such areas 1noccupied
for tillage and so we'll adapted to grazing
that has so few domestic animals. The
result of this condition is that the farmer
has no barn yard fertilizers. Deprive
the farmer in the older settled States in
this country of these resources and there
would be no agriculture, but the japanese
without them, and without any knowl-
edge of agricultural botany or chemistry
have reached crop rate unequaled in
Europe or America. With no stock to
feed there are no uses for wheat, rye or
barley bran, and these are used to enrich
the soil. They also use decomposcd non
edible sea weeds. The whole seacoast
line of those islands must aggregate more
than 5000 miles. All along this line
the tides deposit great winnows of sea-
weed, which is collected during; low tide,
piled up and allowed to decorlposc, and
is then sold TO the farmers. It is carried
up to the foothills i'll boats, and thence
by long lines of pack horses to the fields.
LACK OF MACHINERY.
Of labor saving machinery Japan has
almost none. The plow, the symbol of
tillage in Europe and America, is justly
held in low esteem, and little used. The
good farmer there will have it only when
labor is scarce and the seed time is
passing by. The implement used for
stirring and comminutipg the soil is a
wide bladed mattock. Som etimes, in
very heavy soils, a prcuged 1nattock is
used, but generally it is the bladed Mat.
took that does the work. 1t is an awk.
ward, heavy looking implement, but it is
better than it looks. The blade is twelve
inches in length and Eve inches wide.
The handle is five feet in length, to
which the blade is hung at an acute
angle, so that when by blow it is forced
into the ground there is leverage for
lifting the earth. By this instrument
the soil is not only turned over, but it is
thoroughly pulrerized. Often the ground
is gone over again and again till the soil
is thoroughly comminuted. Sometimes a
plow is used by those who have clay soils
and large areas of land. 1t is not, as
usually described by globe.tsotters, a
crude, imperfect implement. L. is light,
easily run and does good work. It is
drawn by one animal, usually COW, but
sometimes by a horse. If the plow is
used the ground is plowed and, replowed.
AN INTELLIGENT FARMER.
In company with Gen. Van Buren,
the United States consul general at
Yokohama, the writer visited tie agricul-
tural fields at Kioto, the olcl capital.
There the coDqueriDg race had ail'ed the
soil for more than $500 years. We saw
o man plowiug near the road and we
stopped to talk with him. He informed
us that he had harvested crop of rice,
which, after being hulled, averaged sew
enty bushels to the acre, and that the
winter crop on the same land had been
wheat, with an average yield of forty
bushels to the acre. In addition to this,
between the rows or drills of wheat,
early in February, he had ,sown crop of
early vegeta bles. He was then blowing
the land the fourth time, and informed
us that he usually plowed it eight times
In reply to the question why he plowed
it 80 often he said: "In order to make
the soil yield such good crops year after
year we must use all the fertilizers which
the soil can transmit to the roots of the
plants. To do this We must have the
soil completely pulyerized SO that the
roots can penetrate every portion of it.
Another reason is that we put large
quantity of compost manure on the land
before blowing, and it is. desirable to
have it completely mixed with the soil"